A race against time is underway in Mayotte. Additional relief is expected in the archipelago on Monday, December 16, to help the victims of this Indian Ocean territory, devastated by a deadly cyclone on Saturday. One hundred doctors, nurses and caregivers from the health reserve “will leave very quickly” to strengthen the medical teams in the archipelago, where the hospital is “very damaged” and medical centers “inoperative”announced the resigning Minister of Health, Geneviève Darrieussecq, on the set of “4V” on France 2. Medical evacuations to Reunion “continue”she added. Follow our live stream.
Help from Reunion Island. An air and sea bridge was organized from the island of Reunion, a French territory 1,400 km away as the crow flies, to send medical and relief equipment and personnel. A total of 800 civil security agents must be sent as reinforcements, with a field hospital and satellite transmission equipment. A first civil security plane landed in Mayotte on Sunday afternoon, particularly with medical equipment and blood bags.
“The hunger is starting to rise.” Many victims joined the accommodation centers opened before the cyclone struck on Sunday, reported Mayotte senator Salama Ramia. “But unfortunately there is no water, no electricity”she laments. “It is urgent that help arrives, especially when you see children, babies, to whom we have nothing concrete to offer”she declared on BFMTV, especially since all the fruit trees, such as mango trees, have been uprooted.
Bruno Retailleau expected in the morning. The resigning ministers of the Interior and Overseas Territories, Bruno Retailleau and François-Noël Buffet, are due to arrive at the end of the morning in the poorest department in France, where the authorities fear at least “several hundred” of deaths. Emmanuel Macron will chair a meeting devoted to the situation on site at 6 p.m. at the interministerial crisis center of the Ministry of the Interior.
A human toll “very difficult” to establish. Rescuers expect to find many victims in the rubble of the highly populated shanty towns, particularly in the heights of Mamoudzou, said the city’s mayor, Ambdilwahedou Soumaila. Teams “have started working to free up access to remote areas”Or “we still hope to find survivors”added the city councilor.
